


day 8: giving time

by orphan_account



Series: the twelve days of shipmas (giving edition) [8]
Category: UNIQ (Band)
Genre: Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-10 22:46:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8942524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: no one told sungjoo that confessions were really just convoluted waiting games in disguise.





	

**Author's Note:**

> twelve days of shipmas challenge for u-n-i-fics.tumblr.com
> 
> full prompt list on my tumblr

the first time he confesses, it’s december 21st.

it’s not much but sungjoo produces a flower he’d picked on the way to the yg building this morning, plucked from a bush overhanging its blossoms onto the path. it’s a small white dainty thing and he doesn’t know its name but he’d gone through hell trying to prevent it being crushed in his bag the entire day so he presents it anyways even though one of the petals is slightly crushed, stuttering over the confession speech he’d rehearsed twenty times in his mind.

yixuan is looking at him with a slightly mystified expression, long-ish black hair they’ve been forbidden with touching until the company decides what they’re going to do with it upon debut next year, still sticking in parts to his face with sweat. come to think about it, maybe he should have picked a better timing for this - say, not immediately when your object of affection enters the room.

“am i,” yixuan looks like he’s trying to pick his words carefully, korean coming to him in halting phrases, “hearing you correctly? you - “

“i love you. well at least, i really like you.” sungjoo blurts out and just so yixuan can’t deny all knowledge of korean altogether, he adds a, “我爱你” for confirmation.

he doesn’t quite dare to look into yixuan’s eyes to gauge his response. he’s still too much of a coward for that despite his planned role in their group of five where he’ll need courage the most. maybe that’s why he admires yixuan so much, why he slowly started freefalling from the moment they met. an angel, he’d thought, seeing strong but kind eyes framed by a body weathered by hardship and persistence.

he feels the stalk of the flower leave his hands and he stands up ramrod straight, eyes focused squarely on yixuan’s forehead, “so?”

“i - “ yixuan hesitates and rests his duffel down on the tail end of his bottom bunk, “sungjoo, you’re young and we’ve been working together a lot. i’m not taking your feelings lightly but,” he smiles weakly, “as leaders, we have to be responsible for the group.”

“and you’re not sure if dating me will mess with that?” sungjoo voices hollowly.

“let’s just wait and see for now,” yixuan murmurs and it feels like he’s letting him down gently, “i don’t want us to regret this if we start and can’t stop properly and it affects everyone else. we’re the leaders, sungjoo. we have duties.”

it takes three days for sungjoo to pluck up the courage to have a normal conversation with yixuan again after he runs away and buries himself under the covers to hide the flame red on his face. during that time, practices are awkward and ineffective and meetings with company executives are as painful as pulling teeth. sungjoo realises these are the exact consequences that yixuan was worried about if they were to begin a relationship and kicks his own ass mentally for letting his feelings cloud his new role.

he wants to kick yixuan’s though, for being so goddamn right all the time.

***

the second time he confesses, it’s december 21st.

it’s something close to a holiday but not quite. sure, their practice room is decked out in tinsel everywhere courtesy of seungyoun’s enthusiasm but the mirrors are fogged with sweat anyways meaning that it’s just another day of training like any other.

they manage to lug themselves back to their dorm around midnight, weariness alleviated by the warm glow of the mini christmas tree yibo bought on impulse. the lights and baubles they’ve let clutter the place bring a little extra motivation to resist falling into bed straight away and actually expending the effort to drop their practice bags onto the floor by the door in a somewhat tidy line.

wenhan disappears into the shower first, nearly tripping over yibo in his haste and seungyoun just wanders into the kitchen staring aimlessly at their shelves which contain zero traces of junk foods. yibo yanks his psp out of the couch cushions and lounges around on the couch whilst waiting for the shower.

sungjoo grabs yixuan’s hand and leads him into his and wenhan’s room, closing the door behind them.

“we debuted.”

“yes?” yixuan covers his yawn with a hand, blinking endearingly at sungjoo.

“and now it’s december 21st.”

“which is?”

“the anniversary of my confession.”

“...oh.” yixuan is caught between laughter and anxiety.

“look i’m,” sungjoo scratches the back of his neck bashfully, “not confessing again. not really. i just wanted to remind you that uh,” he bounces on the balls of his foot and produces a small dainty white flower from his pocket, “i’m still waiting like you said last year, my feelings haven’t changed. i know it’s not really the right time and maybe it’ll never be but,” he leans forward and pecks yixuan on the cheek, “i still like you.”

“sungjoo,” yixuan says softly, flower held delicately in his hand like he’s cradling it, “thank you.”

***

the third time he confesses, it’s december 21st.

the practice room is a constant no matter how many members are actually present and so is the bone-tired ache that comes with it. the routine is the same as last years but with a few more songs added to the roster. seungyoun is getting a lot more studio time with his own music though, an extension of the lyric notebook he carried around last year. wenhan is spending more time in vocal lessons, determined to overcome the gap between his and sungjoo’s singing abilities and defy the critics. yibo’s popularity is growing exponentially and though they all saw it coming from their debut, he still calls them after a long day’s filming just happy to see his brothers again.

so everything keeps changing but also stays the same.

this year his reminder confession is nothing special yet sungjoo would like to think it still speaks volumes.

he presses a paper flower he folded himself into yixuan’s hand during a break between dance practices, a piece of origami resembling a white daisy that he practiced secretly for a week. he doesn’t need to say anything for yixuan to understand the gesture and the implication behind it.

yixuan smiles and kisses him on the cheek.

it’s a promise of _someday_ and it’ll have to be enough.

for now.


End file.
